I Never Promised You A Rose Garden
by Penguins-girl
Summary: Kassidy Falls is a typical, average girl at Lockerby High School, until two Wolves players, Marcus Foligno and Jared Staal come along. Will the fledgling friendship between Kassidy and a confusing Jared Staal grow, or will new feelings change everything?
1. Chapter 1

_Author's note: I do not know any of the (real) characters in this story; and the other characters are all completely fictional. Some of the character's views may be very forward and may not reflect mine but serve the purpose in the story, and I just wanted to say that I don't mean to offend anybody, it is just a story! I hope you enjoy it!_

It was just like any other day; I walked down the hallways, completely unnoticed, minding my own business. Nothing seemed to ever change here at Lockerby, except for the occasional new student, but that didn't usually happen. There were pep rallies, lots of clubs, our sports teams always did well, that sort of thing, and nearly every girl here complained that all the new, young Sudbury Wolves players went to Sudbury High School, if they even showed up.

It's not like it should matter to those girls anyway; they always managed to find a way to the same parties as the players, so it's not like they were 'missing out'.

My two best friends and I were probably the only girls who didn't drool over Sudbury's OHL team; I mean, come on, all those guys are looking for is some action while they're here and then they forget about you when they go back home or get drafted. Not exactly the kind of guy I'm interested in.

Then in the middle of September, all of that changed.

That was the day when our English teacher introduced two new people to our class, and told us all to be welcoming as they weren't from here, and played hockey with the Wolves. Two guys stood up, obviously a little embarrassed, while Mr. Engle introduced them; Marcus Foligno and Jared Staal.

Whatever the hell possessed them to enroll here, I have no idea, but immediately all the other girls in my class began whispering excitedly to each other and inspecting the two boys like they were in a window display at the mall. I almost felt bad for them, until the one Mr. Engle introduced as Marcus seemed to take notice of the positive attention and soon an easy smile was on his face.

He knew he had it made here. Soon he'd be just as cocky and ignorant as every other junior league player we'd had the pleasure of meeting. On the other hand Jared seemed a little more unsure, maybe he wouldn't be as bad.

"Ms. Falls?" I snapped my head up from my book as Mr. Engle addressed me. Paying attention isn't always my strong suit. I'm good at school, don't get me wrong, but I swear somedays I've got severe ADD.

"Yes Mr. Engle?" I asked, and heard a few people snigger. It's not like they'd been paying attention either.

"Would you care to add to our discussion? Why does the author use this alternate world in the novel? Why not just show us Deborah's illness from the outside?"

"Because what would be the point? Yes, it would be a sad story about a girl with Schizophrenia in the sixties, but it wouldn't give us an insight into Deborah's life. We wouldn't see that she's a real person hiding in this illness, or her struggles with Schizophrenia and trying to be a real person," I answered, and Mr. Engle nodded, impressed with my answer before resuming lecturing the class.

"Um… you're Kassidy, right?" I heard a voice from behind me, I nodded, and turned my head to see who asked. I was a little surprised when it was Jared Staal asking.

"Sorry, but Marc knocked my book off my desk; it's under your chair," he said, his cheeks heating up ever so slightly as he told me. I reached for it, and sure enough found his novel nearly under my feet.

"Thanks," I went back to reading as soon as I'd turned back around in my seat. It was a great book, and while we were about halfway through the book as a class I was around ten pages from the end.

"All right class; good discussion. I expect you to have the next two chapters read for next class," cue the groans from the entire class, most of which probably hadn't opened their novels yet, let alone read anything from them.

"And we are starting our group projects tomorrow; so find yourself a partner, somebody who you can work with. If I don't think it will work then I have every right to switch you around."

With that the bell rang and everybody cleared out of the room, except the few of us who had to put things into our backpacks.

"Um… do you have a partner for the project?" That same deep voice asked me.

"No, not yet," I shrugged. I was used to doing projects on my own; I'd never exactly fit in here, I wasn't an extremely talented athlete or a super-smart student. I was into different things than most people, so if one of my friends wasn't in my class I was used to being kind of shunned by most of the other girls. They were all tall and thin and pretty, they loved going to the mall and makeup and high heeled shoes and gossip and stuff I just didn't see the point of. So that didn't help.

"Would you want to be my partner? I mean, you seem to know what you're talking about, and to be honest if I'm Marc's partner again I'm gonna lose it," I turned to look at him, surprised at this statement.

"Why's that?"

"He's more concerned with getting girls' phone numbers than with getting any work done," he rolled his eyes as he grabbed his books.

"Oh," I nodded, not knowing what else to say.

"Don't get me wrong; he's a great guy, but school isn't a big thing for him; he knows he's got it made with hockey," he rolled his eyes. Like he didn't have it made with hockey either; he was like royalty around here. The last of the legendary Staal brothers destined for NHL greatness.

"And you don't?"

"Not for sure, no. And besides, my parents would absolutely murder me if I failed any classes; they'd probably pull me out of hockey, if they can do that," he chuckled, although I could tell he was being honest. Maybe he wasn't as bad as I'd thought.

"Wow, didn't expect that,"

"Yeah, I get that a lot. They're supportive, don't get me wrong, but they want all of us to have the doors open if hockey doesn't work out, you know? Jordan was the only one who didn't do well," he chuckled to himself as he spoke, and I was racking my brains to figure out which one was Jordan.

"He plays for Pittsburgh," Jared supplied the answer as he saw I was having trouble.

"Oh, right," I felt my cheeks heat up a little. I enjoyed hockey; it was probably my favourite sport, but I made a point of not memorizing all of the players, because if you were a girl, once you did that you were automatically a puck. It didn't matter if they were terrible looking and were fantastically talented, you were a puck.

"Not a hockey fan?" he asked, a cute little lopsided grin on his face as he fell into step beside me. This was different, and I could feel some of the stares following us down the hallway. Everybody at school knew Jared, and while not everybody knew me it was still unnerving.

"No, I like hockey, but I just get into the games, I'm not big on all the players and stats," I answered. He nodded, and politely said hello to the people who greeted him in the hallway.

"Jay! There you are man, what happened to you after English?" Marcus asked, wrapping an arm around Jared's shoulders. Jared was taller and just generally bigger than Marcus, but that didn't seem to matter. Marcus was the outgoing, in your face one of the two friends, while Jared seemed to hang back. At least whenever I'd seen them that's how it was; when they were apart Jared seemed to come out of his shell a little.

"Just talking to Kassidy, she's my partner for the group project," he answered, motioning to me. Marcus hardly even spared me a glance as he subtly directed Jared to the other side of the hall.

"What? I thought we were gonna be partners!" he complained, and Jared just shrugged.

"Thought I'd change it up, it's not like you'll have trouble finding a partner Marc," he reminded his friend.

"Still… now what am I gonna do?" I began to turn down the hall towards my locker, wanting to get my lunch and meet up with my friends rather than awkwardly walk beside the two hockey players.

"Talk to you later Kassidy!" Jared called, and I nodded, turning away as my cheeks turned pink.


	2. Chapter 2

The rest of my morning classes went by uneventfully, until Math class came along. Our desks were always set up in pairs, which our teacher believed was 'beneficial for us to learn from each other'. In other words it was easy to cheat and help. I sat down in my usual place, and got out my books as we waited for our math teacher, Mrs. Drier to show up.

"Hey, is it cool if I sit with you?" I nearly jumped as I looked up to see Jared towering over me.

"Uh, sure," I moved my stuff over and he somehow managed to get his huge frame into the desk.

"Thanks. Do you understand this whole matrices thing?" he asked.

"Yeah. You having trouble?" he gave me a sheepish grin and then I noticed that the page of his notebook had just the questions written down, no answers.

"Just a little. I just can't seem to wrap my head around it, you know? I asked Eric last time I talked to him, but he didn't even remember taking this in school. Jordan's pointless to ask and I haven't gotten ahold of Marc yet," he explained as he opened his text book.

"It's not that bad, you see—" I began before Mrs. Drier walked in, looking once again like she'd been caught in a tornado or something.

"All right class; let's get started," she announced as she began scribbling on the chalkboard.

About halfway through class we were given time to work on our assignments, so I began attempting to teach Jared how to solve matrices.

"Oh shit, you just take the number through everything?" he asked, and I nodded.

"Wow, I must be retarded," he shook his head, looking incredulous at how simple they actually were.

"No, it's a weird concept, that's all," I shrugged.

"Thanks a million for helping me out Kassidy," he said, shooting a mega-watt grin at me.

"Don't worry about it," I assured him, trying to keep my cheeks from turning red. He'd never had this kind of effect on me, so I don't know why I was suddenly acting weird around him.

"Still, thanks. My parents will be forever grateful," he grinned.

"So, you coming to our game tomorrow night?" he asked me a moment later.

"I don't know,"

"You should; they're actually pretty intense; if you like hockey you should have fun," he insisted.

"Maybe, if Alanna or somebody will come with me," I allowed, and saw his grin somehow grow larger.

"That'd be really cool; hopefully I'll see you there," he told me an instant before the bell rang for lunch.

"So… I heard you and the redheaded Wolves player have a thing," Alanna teased me as soon as I sat down at the lunch table. We would sit outside but it had gotten really cold this past week, so even though it was the end of October it felt like December but without the snow.

"That's bull, and you know it," I rolled my eyes at her while she laughed.

"Oh come on, at least he's cute," she pushed, until I raised an eyebrow at her.

"If he' so cute why don't you have a thing with him?" I asked, and she let out a snort.

"Me? Pft, like that would ever happen Kass, don't be stupid!" she was laughing so hard she couldn't seem to catch her breath. It wouldn't be that hard to see; Alanna was tall, smart, and really pretty; even if she didn't seem to know it.

"Sure, sure, whatever you say," I rolled my eyes, continuing to eat my lunch as we talked.

Alanna had been my best friend since the seventh grade, when I moved to Sudbury. Until then I'd lived in a little town called LeRoy in Saskatchewan. Imagine my shock at moving from the middle of the prairies to the rocky terrain of the Sudbury area. It's grown on me though; it's picturesque in a way, but sometimes I still miss the prairies.

After lunch the classes seemed to fly by; Biology, which I'm surprisingly good at, and then Art class. Without a doubt my favourite class ever.

As soon as we were given our assignment I put my iPod on, and the hour seemed to fly by in about fifteen minutes. Not that it mattered; Ms. Friesen always let us stay later and finish up if we wanted to, as long as things were cleaned up and put away properly.

I jumped and let out a squeak as I felt a hand on my arm, and when I whipped around found Alanna laughing at me. I pulled my headphones off, shooting her a dirty look as I did so.

"Oh come on, you have to admit it was funny," she elbowed me playfully, still trying to control her laughter. I rolled my eyes, not wanting to give in and crack a smile or there would be unending surprises such as this one.

"Whatever you say Alanna."

"Whatever. Anyway, it's like four thirty, so I figured I better come and snap you out of your trance," she smirked as I cleaned out my brushes.

"Thanks. How was gym?" I asked. Needless to say she's the more athletic of us.

"Good. Except we played floor hockey and that one Wolves player was a total ball hog," she complained, hopping up to sit on the drawing table next to me while I cleaned up.

"Jared or the other one?" I asked.

"Jared's the red-head, right? Like not a blondey colour but legitimate red-head?" I nodded. He wasn't easy to miss with his bright hair.

"Then it was definitely the other one. Cocky bastard thinks he's all that," she huffed, obviously unimpressed. Growing up with three older brothers she's extremely competitive and can definitely hold her own against guys.

"He plays for the Wolves, remember," I reminded her with a smirk as she laughed.

"The All-Mighty Wolves, pft, doesn't give him the rights to be an ass,"

"Agreed, but they don't seem to know that," I shrugged.

"That's probably why they don't show up to school," she continued, not noticing I felt a little uncomfortable. I mean sure, that guy was stuck-up and pretty self-assured, but that didn't mean all hockey players were like that, right? At least Jared didn't seem to be. Why I was suddenly trying to defend him I didn't know, but something told me he wasn't the stereotypical hockey player kind of guy.

"Hello? Anybody in there? What's with you today girl?" Alanna asked.

"I don't know," was my honest response. Even when I woke up this morning I felt out of it.

"Well, Tim Horton's should help," she suggested, my stomach rumbling at the thought.

"I think someone here agrees," I laughed, patting my tummy as if I were pregnant. We both began laughing as I packed up a few things into my backpack and we left the art room. As we approached my car I unlocked it, and then threw my backpack into the back seat while Alanna got in. We headed to Tim Horton's the drive only taking about three or four minutes.

"Cheddar Cheese bagel please," I ordered, along with a hot chocolate before finding Alanna and going to sit with her. Tim Horton's was kind of the place to hang out around here, but they were building a Starbucks not far from here, so it would be shortlived.

"Hey!" Alanna's eyes widened before she suddenly became interested in her cell phone. I looked up to see Jared walking over, that sheepish little grin on his face, looking like he was unsure whether or not he should be walking over but he'd committed to it and that was the end of it.

"Hey Jared," I nodded politely. I had no idea why he would come over and talk to me outside of school.

"I thought I'd seen you come in but I wasn't sure. Did you guys wanna come and sit with us?" he asked, and as both Alanna and I looked over we sat Marcus another guy who must play for the team and a few girls off the Volleyball team trying to hang off of the guys' and get their attention.

"Um, that's okay; thanks for offering," I told him, seeing Alanna nod.

"You sure?"

"Yeah, looks pretty squished over there, we're good thanks," Alanna seconded, and he nodded.

"Okay, I figured I'd come and ask. Sorry, but I don't remember your name," he apologized to Alanna, who just shrugged it off.

"I'm Alanna,"

"Jared,"

"I know," she rolled her eyes at him, even though I gave her a kick under the table. He was trying to be nice, she didn't need to be rude to him.

"O-okay then. Talk to you later Kassidy, nice to meet you Alanna," he said before turning and heading back to his friends.

"What was that for?" she demanded a second later.

"He was just trying to be nice, you didn't have to be rude!" I hissed, looking back over in their direction. Marcus was quite noticeably the center of attention there; Jared and their other friend sitting back and taking everything in without being separate from the conversation.

"So what, you and Jared are best buddies now?" she asked, eyebrow raised.

"Nope, not at all. But still, he was just being nice," I insisted, and she sighed.

"Fine. Next time he tries to be nice I'll be civil, I promise," she rolled her eyes over-dramatically, as if I was asking her to do something terrible or difficult.

"You are such a goof," I told her, and she huffed at me before laughing.

_Hope you like it! Please leave a comment and let me know what you think!_


	3. Chapter 3

_Jared's P.O.V._

As I walked back over to Marcus, Eric and a few of the girls fawning over them I almost wished Kassidy and her friend had agreed to come and sit with us. Not that I didn't enjoy hanging out with the guys, but it seemed like after the first two weeks of school it was never just the guys; it was us and whatever girls were trying to be their next catch. It got old really fast, I mean, the first week it was almost flattering; what guy didn't want to be followed around by gorgeous girls all day? But when you realize that all their after is the right to brag to their friends or some action, or when they use you to get to your friends, it gets old fast.

"Who's that?" the girl hanging off of Marc's right side asked, shooting Kassidy and Alanna a look that was less than impressed.

"Friends of mine," I shrugged, not wanting to get into it as I sat back down in the booth beside Eric. Just as I'd feared about thirty seconds later there was a hand on my arm and I could feel the girl, I believe her name was Alisha but I wasn't sure, pressing herself to my side as she listened to the conversation. I was used to girls flirting, but not being so forward like the girls were here.

"That's your English partner… right?" Marcus asked, having to think hard about it even though he'd seen her earlier and we were all in the same class.

"Yeah, and we have math together too," I added. Marcus looked to Eric and then the girl hanging off of him as he started to smirk.

"Aww, does Jared have a little crush?" he teased.

"She's my friend, what the hell are you talking about?" I asked, starting to chuckle. I'd only ever really talked to her today, I didn't know anything about her except her name, that she was good at math and liked the novel we were reading in English.

"You sure?" Eric asked with a playful elbow jab. He was a nice guy; he was usually a little quieter, but he was fun to hang around with, and he was a good hockey player.

"Yeah, I'm sure," I assured him, and he let it drop. The look on Marcus's face however, said otherwise.

"Come on Jared, embarrassed about your little girlfriend?"

"Girlfriend? Where are you coming up with this shit?" I asked, getting a little annoyed. Marcus doesn't always know when to let something go.

"You could do way better Jared," the girl trying to hang off of my side said, which aggravated me a little. She didn't know Kassidy, she had no right to say something like that. If my parents taught the four of us anything it was how to treat women well and respect them, along with how to play hockey.

"Excuse me?"

"I mean, look at her; she doesn't do anything with her hair, she's not wearing makeup, and she could definitely go to the gym," she continued.

"Why would you even say that? That's extremely rude," I told her, just catching Eric's minute nod of agreement. She sat back from me, eyebrow raised.

"So what? You're into fat girls? Is that it?" she asked.

"That's not what I… she's not fat," I began stumbling over my words, wanting to defend Kassidy but not quite sure how. If the girl I was arguing with had been Marcus or something I'd know how to handle it, but arguing with a girl was different.

"Sure, keep telling yourself that hun,"

"Well at least if you go out with her get her to go the gym with you or something, it wouldn't hurt," the girl hanging off of Marcus piped up, the girls giggling as if they were proud of cutting down someone they'd never met. Marcus chuckled, but it died in his throat when he saw the look I sent him.

"Easy there bud, we're just kidding,"

"No you're not. It's really rude; especially when you don't even know her, you have no right to say shit like that about her," I told them, standing up and grabbing my backpack.

"Hey… where are you going?" Marcus, Eric and Alisha asked.

"Home, I want to go chill out before practice."

"Aw come on man, just stay; we'll leave pretty quick anyway, then you don't have to walk," Marcus insisted.

"I'm good thanks," I told him, a little ticked off right now. How they thought it was okay to talk about people behind their backs like that I didn't know, but I wasn't going to sit around and be involved in it.

"Oh shit Jay, don't be such a softy," he taunted, but instead of just sitting down as Marcus obviously expected I walked out the doors and left. It took me a few minutes to get my bearings as I wandered back towards the school, hoping to find my way back from there. After nearly twenty minutes I managed to find my way back to the place that we were renting; I had billeted last year, at the same place my brother Marc had billeted, but I hated feeling like I was a burden to the families nice enough to take a stranger into their home. So this year I'd convinced my parents that if there was a couple of us we could rent a place or something, and so far it was working well.

By the time I'd managed to find my way back to the house Marcus and the guys were there, not exactly the first people I wanted to see right now. As soon as I got in the door I went straight upstairs to my room, shutting the door behind me. I knew I'd need a nap or something before practice, it had been my routine ever since I was seven years old.

"Hey? Staal, you back?" there was pounding at the door as Eric called through the wood. I thought about not replying, but Eric hadn't done anything wrong.

"Yeah, I'm back," I replied, and watched the door slowly open. Eric poked his head in the door, obviously unsure as to whether or not he was in the middle of a war zone.

"You okay?"

"Yeah. Fine."

"Look, I know Marcus can be an ass, but sometimes it's better to just let him run off his steam, you know?" he quietly asked, as if it justified the way we'd all acted before.

"Yeah, but it gets to the point where he needs to know it's not okay," he nodded, not saying anything.

"So is your friend gonna come to the game?" he asked.

"Maybe, if any of her other friends are gonna go," I shrugged, trying to be as nonchalant as possible. I was a little excited, I'll admit; it would be nice to have made a legitimate friend outside of hockey and who wasn't acting like the girls Marcus had brought to Tim Horton's earlier.

"Cool," he nodded. Relief seemed to course through me at Eric's easy acceptance of this, even though I knew he wouldn't have done anything different about it. Eric was really laid-back, he didn't often have a problem with anyone or anything, so why I had expected disapproval I didn't know. We stood there awkwardly for a few more moments before he left my room, probably to go find something to eat. I sat down on my bed, taking the two binders out of my backpack, hoping I'd remember to finish my homework after practice before laying down on my bed. A deep breath helped me to calm down; enough that I figured I might even be able to sleep for a little bit before practice. It was something my brothers all told me helped them before practice or a game, and seeing as they all play in the NHL I wasn't going to question it.

My alarm startled me when it went off forty-five minutes later; I hadn't realized that I actually fell asleep. It felt good though, so after going downstairs and making some KD I figured I was about as ready for practice as I was going to get.

"Staal! Ready to go?" Marcus called from downstairs as I was halfway to the door with my equipment.

"Yeah, Just give me a second," I replied, taking another deep breath and hoping he wouldn't say anything stupid. If he did I might just have to punch him.


End file.
